Sunday, November 20, 2011

Thanks for the feedback, Walgreens

Even though today was overcast, I decided to stick to my original plan of taking the pinhole camera to the Old Gray Cemetery downtown, because I'm still sticking with my plan of getting a better feel for the camera by photographing things and places that I am familiar with. I've photographed it in color and in black and white (getting better at black and white was 2010's photography goal), so I figured I might as well photograph it in pinhole, since that's my current kick.

Because of the low light, many of the photos are blurry and indistinct, which the lady at Walgreens was happy to inform me of when I came to pick them up.

Or, you know, maybe I could learn to accept criticism without feeling like the only response is MURDER! SWEET HOT MURDER!

Rather than say any of that, or murdering her, I instead explained that it was a homemade camera with no lenses that doesn't work as well on cloudy days, and she and I had a nice conversation for a few minutes about pinhole cameras, where I learned to make one, and a photography class that she took a few years ago where she read about them. By the time we were done, my photos had gone from hazy, blurry, and weird to "That's so interesting!", so maybe she felt bad about her initial comments.

Either way, she is right. They are kind of hazy and a little blurry, but they also are interesting:

That line is a scratch on the film. I can see it on the negative. This line, however:

is some kind of processing error at Walgreens. It's not on the print or the negative, but there it is on the photo CD. I might scan the print in at some point, and replace this photo with the scan.

Or, you know, it could be a spirit photo.

I took several photos of statues, of which these three are the best and clearest:

The rest came out so blurry that you can't even tell they are statues, so I did not post them.

Here's another view of the cemetery, looking downhill:

and then these two are tied for my favorite of the day:

I guess I don't have to have a favorite, so I'll just say I like them both.